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Cajun Crawfish Cornbread Casserole

Boiled crawfish in the springtime is a unique Louisiana custom. As spring bursts into the air and the weather warms up, crawfish come out of their burrows. We get a few short months of eating these freshwater crustaceans. I have several favorite recipes for cooking with crawfish. This recipe comes from Aunt Gaye who stated, “this is the best recipe I’ve seen in a long time.” The casserole reminds me of a spicy quiche, full of vegetables, cheese, cornbread and crawfish.Aunt Gaye’s recipe

My husband’s Aunt Gaye is an excellent cook. Occasionally she shares a recipe with me and I always take note. These are good recipes. Aunt Gaye sent me this one last fall and I’ve been waiting for a chance to try it. She’s right, it is an excellent dish. Just a little spicy; a touch of cornbread taste. I like all the vegetables and cheese in addition to the cornbread and crawfish in the recipe.

The recipe was originally posted on Allrecipes.com named Crawfish Cornbread. (//allrecipes.com/recipe/213573/crawfish-cornbread/). This recipe does not have the texture of cornbread as originally named. It is more akin to cornbread stuffing or even quiche. So I renamed it a casserole.

Secondly, Aunt Gaye substituted Jiffy Cornbread mix for the cornmeal. The cornbread mix has a finer corn flour texture than cornmeal. It also adds a slight sweetness. I used Martha White Sweet Yellow Cornbread and Muffin mix.

Thirdly, we tweaked some of the ingredient quantities but essentially used most of the ingredients in the originally recipe. For a less spicy version, omit the jalapeno peppers and reduce the cayenne pepper to a pinch (or omit entirely).

What if you don’t have crawfish?

Crawfish tails can be a bit intimidating if you’ve never eaten them. But they are delicious–sort of a cross between shrimp and crabmeat. Give them a try. Crawfish tails have a wider distribution than in past years. Look for them in the frozen seafood section of large grocery stores chains such as Cosco’s. The recipe uses peeled and cooked crawfish tails; although partially cooked or even raw crawfish can be substituted. Here are peeled, cooked crawfish as purchased. Crawfish are often sold in 12 oz packages rather than 1 lb packages–either size can be used.I suggest not using Chinese crawfish — these have an entirely different taste. Because of labeling laws in the state, Louisiana crawfish will be identified as “a Louisiana product.”What if you don’t have crawfish available? You can still make the recipe. Substituting crabmeat gives a similar result. Small shrimp can be used–the taste is changed slightly. Ground sausage or hamburger can also be used–saute and cook these ingredients first.

Making the recipe

This recipe is very easy to mix up. Just mix all the ingredients and bake. Here are the ingredients.I baked the casserole in a 10″ cast iron skillet. A 9″x13″ baking dish can be used, too.

Season the crawfish with the cayenne pepper, garlic powder and Tony Chachere’s Creole Seasoning (or seasoned salt). Mix all the ingredients except the cornbread in a large bowl.Aunt Gaye used one box of Jiffy Cornbead/Muffin mix which is an 8 oz box. For the Martha White family size cornbread mix, I used 1/2 box or 2 cups mix.

Bake in a hot 375 degree oven for about 45 – 50 minutes until bubbly and browned and the sides start to pull away from the edges. This casserole baked for an hour. Probably a bit too long but still tasty

Bake at 375 degrees for 45 – 50 minutes until bubbly, browned on top and edges begin to pull away from sides of casserole dish.

Remove from oven, let set on counter for 15 – 20 minutes, then cut into 6 slices and serve.

This is really a meal-in-one. Serve with a side dish of coleslaw or salad. Enjoy!

2019 Update:

I made this recipe again using a box of Jiffy (8.5 oz) box of Corn Muffin Mix.

I baked the casserole in a 10″ heavy cast iron skillet for 45 minutes. You could also use a 9″ x 13″ baking pan – both well oiled — may need to adjust baking time. This is a very soft casserole — it is not like a piece of cornbread. The key to getting the casserole to “firm up” is to let it set for 15 – 20 minutes after removing from the oven. It will still taste great if you eat it immediately, it will just sort of fall apart at the edges. I don’t mind, will your family?

The azaleas are beautiful this spring. My favorite time of the year in Louisiana. A great place to live!

Hello, You just add the dry Jiffy mix to the casserole– use an 8 oz box. You do not bake the cornbread first. The ingredients in the casserole have all the things to make the cornbread. Hope you enjoy the recipe, it is delicious!

I have seen some brands — such as Thibodeaux — market both Chinese and American crawfish; so you have to read the labels. You wouldn’t think that to be true with such a “Cajun”-typical name; but I was fooled once. Not again!

Hello, Thanks for stopping by my blog — and thanks for that bit of information. Will check out Walmart next time I go — I’m thinking that the crawfish might just be carried in your market area, not across the country. We’ll see.

Wow, I’m impressed, you all must be displaced Cajun’s up there with Walmart taking care of you. Well, good for you and I’ll have to check our our Walmart stores in the area. Glad you made and liked the casserole. Thanks for stopping by our blog.

Hello, I always appreciate comments and input from readers. I have enjoyed learning to know may folks “on-line.” Thanks for visiting my blog! It has been a rewarding part of my life over the past several years. Hope you enjoy the recipe.

Hello, I use the fat in the package. It adds flavor — shouldn’t be an excessive amount of fat in the package. No, you don’t have to cook the tails first. This casserole is baked long enough to cook the crawfish. Some brands of crawfish are partially cooked, others not. Enjoy!

We tried making this recipe and it did not firm up. After closer review, the recipe calls for one 8oz box Jiffy Cornbread mix OR two cups of the family size Martha White cornbread mix. 8 oz is 1 cup and 16oz is 2 cups.
We used the jiffy mix and this is why it didn’t firm up. Regardless of what brand cornmeal mix you choose, the measurement should be the same. In order for this to firm up as shown in the photos, 2 cups Martha White or 2 8 ounce boxes of Jiffy cornbread mix in what is required. Want others to avoid wasting $30 on ingredients and the recipe not turning out.

Thanks for your comments and for pointing out this discrepancy. I have changed the ingredients to show 2 cups of the Martha White Cornbread Mix and deleted the reference to Jiffy Cornbread Mix. However, please note that I titled the recipe “Crawfish Cornbread Casserole.” With all the extra ingredients, it does not cut like a slice of cornbread — I found the consistency to be more like a casserole — as you can see from the photos. I am so sorry that your recipe didn’t meet your expectations. Thanks for your recipe feedback.

Hello, If you don’t have Martha White brand, Jiffy brand (8.5 oz box) of corn muffin mix will work just fine. Made it today. Baked for entire 45 minutes using a heavy cast iron skillet. After you remove casserole from oven, let it set for at about 15 – 20 minutes to “firm up.” It is a very moist casserole,; the key is to let it set for about 20 minutes so it is easier to cut and firmer. If you don’t have a cast iron skillet, a baking pan will work; may need to cook it a little longer. Hope you enjoy the recipe.

And one Jiffy (8.5 oz) box by weight, measures 1-1/2 cups by volume. It is not equal to 2 Martha White boxes — it is intended to say that you use only part (2 cups) of one family size Martha White box. Anyway, one Jiffy box worked just fine.

Hello, If you don’t have Martha White brand, Jiffy brand (8.5 oz box) of corn muffin mix will work just fine. Made it today. Baked for entire 45 minutes using a heavy cast iron skillet. After you remove casserole from oven, let it set for at about 15 – 20 minutes to “firm up.” It is a very moist casserole,; the key is to let it set for about 20 minutes so it is easier to cut and firmer. If you don’t have a cast iron skillet, a baking pan will work; may need to cook it a little longer. Hope you enjoy the recipe.

Hello, tried out my recipe again using a Jiffy (8.5 oz) box of corn meal muffin mix. I think that the key is let the casserole set for about 15- 20 minutes after removing from oven.. Then it will “set up.” It is still a very moist casserole. As to the discrepancy in measures — dry ingredients are measured by weighting — as they should be — so the Jiffy Mix box weights 8.5 oz. Measuring cups are really for liquid ingredients or volume — many cooks don’t have a kitchen scale, so I list things by volume, too (or measuring cups). The Jiffy Mix is 1-1/2 cups in a measuring cup. Either 1 box Jiffy Mix or 2 cups .out of a box of Martha White should work. Anyway, I am so sorry for your disappointment in the recipe.

Hello, that’s right, you can add more cornbread mix. However, patience helps, and if you let the casserole set for about 15 minutes, it will start to firm up — it is a soft casserole which makes it moist and delicious.

Ad a little bit of liquid Louisiana crawfish boil to your frozen crawfish tails to bring back the flavor. I do this to mine when I make my crawfish etouffee also only by your tails that are from Louisiana.

NO, NO, you cannot just substitute plain cornmeal for the cornbread mix. The cornbread bread & muffin mix also contains baking soda, shortening, sugar and salt. The baking soda makes the cornbread casserole “rise.” Omitting it and you will have a very flat casserole. It doesn’t really matter what brand of cornmeal bread & muffin mix you use but it should be about an 8 oz box. We used the mix primarily for convenience but you can also make your own from scratch. Substitute 2 cups yellow cornmeal, 2 tsp baking soda and 1/2 tsp salt (can be omitted). Stir these ingredients together and add. I have to say, I haven’t actually tried this, but it should work. Stay tuned, I’ll try it this weekend when I’m off of work and re-post my results. Tried it this weekend; suggest using 1-1/2 cups yellow cornmeal, 2 tsp baking soda and 1/2 tsp salt in place of the cornbread mix.

Hello John, You can substitute 1-1/2 to 2 cups yellow cornmeal, 2 tsp baking soda and 1/2 tsp salt in place of the commercial cornbread & muffin mixes. Use 1-1/2 cups cornmeal if you want a moister casserole and increase to 2 cups if you really want a dish that is more like cornbread. Combine the cornmeal, baking soda and salt well in a small bowl before adding to other ingredients. Any brand of yellow cornmeal, such as Aunt Jemima® Yellow Corn Meal, should work. I made the casserole last night using 2 lb Jimmy Dean Sausage (cooked the sausage first) and it came out great! Cooked sausage cornbread casserole for only 30 minutes but definitely recommend cooking crawfish cornbread casserole for full 45 minutes. Let casserole “rest” for at least 20 minutes after removing from oven to “firm up”. Enjoy!

Made your Craw-fish Cornbread Casserole last night. My husband had purchased a 4lb bag of frozen craw-fish at the store and we had some left so tried this recipe. OMG we could not stop eating it … How ever I did omit all the hot seasoning just because my husband does not like hot seasoning:( and I miss read the directions and used 2 pkg of Martha White sweet cornbread mix packages, oops, but it was perfect, Cooked in a iron skillet heated in the oven with a generous amount of oil , I also had some extra mixture and put it in 6 muffins and they came out perfect as well, just took them out a little before the iron skillet, they all browned up beautifully. Had added some butter to the first muffin but it did not need it at all, perfect just the was it is. So happy with this recipe, Thank you so much and this is definitely a keeper in my recipe book. Can’t wait to try it with shrimp or crab-meat or the sausage. Thank you again.

Hello, Glad to hear you enjoyed the recipe! Yes, it is a flexible and forgiving recipe — you can remove the spicy seasoning and it still tastes good! I have discovered that there are different sizes of Martha White Cornbread Mix — that has confused alot of folks. If you are using the 6 oz packages, then you could use 2 packages — as you found — and it should be fine. If you are using the very large family boxes — the 2 cups mix is all you need.

Also, if you are using shrimp, I’d use very small shrimp; sausage needs to be browned first – from 1 to 2 lb. I used 1 lb sausage, but the casserole could easily be made with more sausage. Crab-meat is very expensive in our part of the world — I might find some other recipes for it, actually.

Thank you for the reply and answers, that is very helpful. I did use 2 of the 7oz pkg of the Martha White Sweet cornbread mix and like I said it was perfect. I really wouldn’t change a thing. Looking forward to trying the shrimp next Do you think the already boiled shrimp packages for shrimp cocktail would work or do I need to use the fresh shrimp?

I always used frozen, raw peeled shrimp — small ones (71 -90 ct) — defrost them. These would need to be sauteed in some margarine or oil before adding to the casserole. The boiled shrimp for shrimp cocktail would work, too — although I have not seen these sold separately. Since they are already cooked, they could just be added to the casserole as is.

Hello, Yes, crawfish can be difficult to find out-of-state and actually difficult and expensive to find in-state when not in season (Feb – May). That’s why my posts about crawfish are always in the spring. Crawfish are a succulent, juicy and tender crustacean. There’s not a really an equivalent substitute. However, you might try rock shrimp (I have not actually done this but understand that they are similar in texture to crawfish.) You can also make the casserole with different ingredients. Still a tasty casserole, but with a different flavor. You can make it using 1/2 lb of mild bulk sausage, browned first, or make a vegetarian version adding a 15-oz can of drained black beans. Or, it is always possible to order and have crawfish shipped.

Hello, yes, the original recipe calls for cornbread mix (also called corn muffin mix). Some folks preferred to make their own “corn meal” mix (which didn’t contain sugar); but this is not necessary. Just go for it and hope you enjoy the results.

A little late to the party here, so apologies if I missed anything. But I/we were wondering if there is any nutritional information on this and/or any other recipe on this site? I absolutely KNOW they are good, that’s not in question. We have tried this and loved it. Specifically looking for the nutritional information to enable us to eat well and look after ourselves better.
Thanks for all helpful replies.
James

Hello, adding nutritional information is a good suggestion. I actually have the nutritional software to do the analysis; but it is a very time consuming task to get the correct information entered, so has sort of fallen on the “back burner.” Thanks for your idea.

I haven’t made this recipe yet although I definitely intend to, I do make what I call Mexican Cornbread, which is similar to this recipe, and when I make it or when I make regular cornbread, I use Aunt Jemima Corn Meal Mix. It is not sweet. It comes in 5 lb. or larger bags. To me Jiffy Corn Muffin Mix tastes like cake.

Hello, yes, I agree. My Aunt Gaye is the person who suggested using Jiffy brand, it is sweet, and I am glad to know Aunt Jemima Corn Meal Mix is less sweet — I have another recipe to make with eggplant and want a less sweet cornbread mix with it. Thanks for your suggestions.

Hello, in your honest opinion which way taste the best – using Martha cornmeal mix, jiffy or cornbread from scratch?
Also, have you tried using it with the liquid Louisiana crawfish boil to your frozen crawfish tails as suggested by a viewer ? If so would you definitely recommend adding to your ingredients list? (I do like spicy)

Hello, thanks for your questions and interest. I like cornbread mix that is a little less sweet, and Martha cornbread mix seems to be just right. Jiffty mix is sweet. Cornbread mix from scratch would be okay too, however, using a purchased mix is nice for convenience. As for liquid crawfish boil, no I haven’t tried it, don’t tend to keep this ingredient on hand, there are several other ingredients that can add “hot” such as Tabasco sauce. If uou want to use crawfish boil in the recipe, add with caution as these products are very concentrated. However, I might try it next spring during crawfish season to see the results.

Hello, The cream of corn adds to the flavor as well as adds volume and liquid. However, I understand if you husband can’t eat corn and hate to see him miss this dish. Yes, you could omit the creamed corn and substitute in other ingredients. I suggest adding sour cream for volume (about 1/2 cup to 1 cup) and an extra egg. If still too thick you could increase the oil to 1/2 cup. I do have to point out that I haven’t tried these substitutions–they are my best guess to give you a quick reply. If you can give me a couple of weeks — I’ll give these substitutions a try — I’d hate to see them not work for you. Thanks.

Hello, To make this casserole, you just add the dry cornbread mix to the other ingredients. Ignore the instructions on the box. Hope this answers your question and that you enjoy the recipe! Happy New Year!

Hello, Yes. Crawfish Etouffe is a very traditional Louisiana dish. I posted a recipe on my blog a couple years ago for it. It is excellent. It uses a shortcut of adding a can of Cream of Chicken soup. This spring I’m planning on posting a version without this ingredient. Keep posted and hope you will pass this recipe and blog post along to your daughter. https://beyondgumbo.com/2017/03/28/crawfish-etouffee-simple-shortcut/

I’ve had this in the past and know that it’s delicious. Thank you for the recipe. Does it freeze well? I need to know because I’m having major surgery soon and am trying to stocking my freezer with ready meals.

Hello, Yes, this casserole does freeze well — however, I would never recommend freezing it with crawfish for long-term use. Crawfish are perishable, even frozen. I’d suggest you make and freeze a version of it — use sausage or make a vegetarian version with drained, canned black beans. Good luck with your surgery!

Wow, what an interesting idea — to cook in a cast iron bundt pan, and a crust would taste great, too! Did you have to cook it longer? Yes, celery and a little crunch would add to the recipe. Thanks for stopping by my blog!

I made this before and it is delicious!! But today with us being sequestered from the Corona Virus getting to the store is hard..I have everything but Cream Style Corn I have whole Kernal corn ..can I use this and if so do I need to add something like sour cream? and if so how much !!..Thanks Jeanne

Hello, Good for your pantry! Yes, lets adapt recipes while we are all sequestered at home and avoiding excess trips to the grocery store. Fortunately this casserole is very forgiving and turns out well even though you might need to substitute or omit ingredients. I’ve made this dish many different ways such as using sausage for crawfish. So, yes, substituting about 1/2 cup sour cream in place of the creamed corn along with a can of drained, whole kernel corn corn should work. Let’s be safe during these very difficult and trying times.

Hello, Thanks for your question. The original instructions from Aunt Gaye called for using “Jiffy Corn Muffin Mix.” However, this is a very sweet cornbread mix. Even though Martha White’s mix also says “Sweet Cornbread and Muffin Mix” we found it to be less sweet and we both liked it better in this casserole. So either brand can be used, I prefer Martha White’s mixes in this recipe. Your choice. Also included is a recipe for homemade cornbread which is very easy to substitute — not sweet at all. In any event, enjoy the casserole! And thanks for stopping by my blog.